Scholarly Commentary

Guest Editor: Paul Fyfe

Introduction

This is a bound copy of the first twelve monthly issues of
The Broadway Annual. The original wrappers were not included. The sixth issue (February 1868)
includes the poem “
Mrs. Holmes Grey” by William Michael Rossetti.

Production History

Ives points out that periodicals published internationally frequently show variations
in textual and physical characteristics based on where they were published. Contents likewise varied “both to
accommodate copyright restrictions and to serve the interests of a different
readership” (71). Partly because the major periodical indexes do not record
differences between American and British copies and partly because of the rarity of
copies, these potential variations are difficult to ascertain (94).

Printing History

Although
The Broadway Annual lists its places of publication as London and New York, Ives has pointed out
that no records exist to confirm an American printing (90). According to the publisher's
records, print runs of individual issues of
The Broadway Annual show significant variation: 90,000 for the first issue declining to 20,000 for
the twelfth. It is unclear how the issues of this copy were aggregated and bound.

Pictorial

This transcription includes a full-page illustration by Arthur Boyd Houghton opposite
the beginning of WMR's poem.